NAIVALURUA PINPOINTS CAUSES OF SOCIAL ILLS

Minister for Policing Ioane Naivalurua has labelled laziness and idleness as the driving forces behind the spike in aggravated robbery cases in the country.

Mr Naivalurua did not mince his words as he called out the actions of young men and women who were contributing to the social ills in communities.

Speaking during the Calvary Temple’s morning service on Sunday, Mr Naivalurua said laziness was becoming a sickness linking it to the number of aggravated robbery cases reported in the country.

“Laziness and idleness are a sickness that exist today,” Mr Naivalurua said. “We read it every day in the paper, we hear of robberies every day, there is just a lot of disobedience. Something that links all this is – laziness and idleness of people,” he said.

“Our analysis, we found out that a lot of these were common in iTaukei communities.

“There are so many other things happening and our major concern right now is drugs, aggrevated robbery and domestic violence on women and children.”

According to the statistics of non-sexual offences from January to December last year, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP) noted that theft, aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery topped the list of people that were charged in 2024.

118 people were charged with theft last year while 97 people were charged with theft. This was followed by 75 people charged with aggravated robbery.

Adding to this, over the weekend an iTaukei man was captured in a video allegedly stealing from an elderly man at a shopping complex in Nakasi.

The culprit was arrested by the Eastern Division Task force yesterday at the Sarava settlement in Wainibuku, Nakasi.

The suspect who is in his 30s is being questioned at the Nakasi Police Station as investigations continue.

Fighting a lot of issues

Mr Naivalurua said the Fiji Police Force was facing a whole lot of issues.

We are fighting a whole lot social ills that confront us, he said.

“We read it every day in the newspaper, an increase in crime rate. We also have a pornography issue, this is a major one.

“Drugs continue to confront us, this is another one.

“The Prime Minister has seen the need to have policing as a ministry on its own and this new ministry is required to put into place the measures that will tackle against this ills that we are faced with.

“There is a whole list of things that are happening, we read about this in the newspapers.

“First is our inability to look after our women and children. There is just so many violence against women and children.”

He said he was just made aware of a case where the suspect was a 77 year old man and the victim a three to four year old child.

“That was just happening few days ago. That is the state of affairs in Fiji.

“The number of people watching pornography in Fiji is spiking, I believe this is causing so many bad habits that is happening that we read and hear about.

“Drugs as well has a link to these social ills that we are seeing a rise in. Our beautiful home has come a long way since independent.

“It continues to grow, evolve, the world continues to do so.”

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